Summer Days
by RanXNao
Summary: After Souzin's Comet, the gruop go their separate ways. While the others head for more adventure, Toph decides to return home. Soon she grows bored of her daya-to-day lifestyle, until she recieves a visit from an old friend.  Chapter 4 is UP! :D
1. Chapter 1: In The Garden Of Memories

SUMMER DAYS:

Chapter One…

In The Garden of Memories.

The young earth bender sighed. She stood in the garden of her parent's estate, hoping for excitement. After the gang saved the world from Ozai and the Nation the was nothing left to do. Toph returned home to her parents. Now they except her as she is. She should be happy, but she's not.

The excitement and adventure has ended. Toph is just simply bored. She sat down on a bench and reflected on her memories. Tylee joined the Kiyoshi Warriors when they went back to their island Suki took Sokka with them. Zuko is now the firelord. Aang went in search of any surviving Air nomads. And Katara? She went with Aang of course. She looked down at her lap, "I never guess I'd miss them this much." she said to herself.

A servant called out to Toph, "Dinner is ready!"

Toph promptly stood and began walking back to her home. She walked slowly, it didn't matter if she ran or not because her food would still be there. Normally she was so full of energy but now she saw no point. 'Time moves on' Toph thought, 'so do people.' She thought her life would be different once she had returned home. In some ways it was still the same. Her parents continued being overprotective but now they know she isn't as fragile as they once thought. She can now walk the streets of her home town by herself. Everybody knows that the Bei Fongs have a daughter, she was no longer a secret.

Her mind was so busy thinking that she hardly notice a fallen branch in her way. THUD! Her fall was not too bad, it did shake her back into reality. The servant came running. Toph stood up quickly reassuring that she was fine. There were no scraps or bruises, just a rip in her dress. "What a shame!" the servant whined, "it was expensive too."

Toph made no attempt to respond. She merely lifted the bottom of the skirt and continued walking. 'This is why I hate dresses.' she complained to herself. Though her parents don't mind her Earthbending they still do love seeing her in a formal gown. The earth bender ignored the pleas of the servant to change. The dinner was of just her and her parents, she saw no point to change her clothes.

She marched in, not caring to notice her parents had company. "I'm here!" Toph announced.

"Toph!" her mother was surprised.

"Young lady, this is not how we greet a guest." her father coughed.

Toph only replied with an "oh." and blew the bangs from her face.

"And what happened to your dress?" Her mother ignored their guest and ran to Toph.

"I thought we had company, mom." she grinned.

"And that's why you need to change. Now!"

Toph groaned and walked back to her room to change. 'They could tell me before hand when we have company.' she slammed herself on her bed. "I don't want to go back down there." Toph flipped over and screamed into her pillow. "I miss my friends" her voice cracked a little.

She waited a little before jumping to change. She grabbed familiar clothing and tossed them on. "It's to wear something comfortable again!" Toph did a few stretches and ran down stairs.

"Toph?" Her mother raised a brow.

"You said to change and I happen to LOVE this outfit!" she giggled rebelliously.

"Fine," her mother sighed. "Let's eat, shall we?" They stood up and walked to the dinning area.

Their guest turned to Toph stopping her from following her parents. "It's been awhile hasn't it, Toph?"

"Zuko?" After the surprise wore off on her face she leapt on the Fire lord and squeezed him tightly.


	2. Chapter 2: A Night To Remember

**Chapter 2: A Night To Remember.**

Zuko smiled at his friend. Urging her to let go so they can continue to the dinning room. The two sat down side by side.

"Toph you didn't tell us you were friends with the fire lord." her father began as the servants set their food in front of them, "How did the two of you meet?"

"Um." Zuko coughed unable to explain chasing down the avatar and his friends, especially a little blind girl.

Toph's mom smiled gently at their guest, "Oh, Mr. Firelord?"

"yeah?" Zuko spoke softly, blushing slightly.

"You never told us why you came here so suddenly."

"Well, that's because…" His words got scrambled in his head, "um, well."

The Bei Fongs blinked, "Well that's not important, just so long as we're not in trouble with the Fire Nation." The husband chuckled.

"yeah…" The Fire lord's voice cracked.

The table grew silent as the four began eating. Toph's mom brought up a good point. 'Why was Zuko here?' She thought. 'Did he came to see me?' Toph glanced over at the older boy. He looked back, piling rice into his mouth.

Toph can sense how he felt by his vibrations. He was nervous. She knew he never really had too many friends, she just assumed this was his first time visiting a friend. "The food is…uh, very delicious!" Zuko spoke up loudly.

"Thank you." Mrs. Bei Fong smiled, "We have the best cook in town."

"Toph has such interesting friends." Mr. Bei Fong started another conversation.

"Oh?" Zuko blinked, thinking of Aang.

"Yes, the last one that came to our was the Avatar!"

"I see." He stabbed his rice with his chopsticks.

"Since you're the Fire Lord, you must be a really powerful bender." Mrs. Bei Fong jumped back into the conversation.

"Well, I'm no Avatar but I'm pretty good." He tried not to brag.

"Don't be so modest, sparky!" Top laughed as she made a nickname for him on the stop. "You're a wonderful bender!"

"I'm sure you know that Toph is an Earth bender?"

"Yeah, she's amazing." He bushed even more.

"We do not like such a young girl bending, but as long as she is safe we're happy." Mr. Bei Fong spoke for the both of them as his wife nodded.

Soon their dishes became empty and Toph stood up. She turned to her parents, "is it ok that I show Zuko around."

"As long as you don't leave the grounds." He put his chopsticks down firmly.

"Come on, Zuko." she grabbed his and pulled out of dinning room. "Now, where should I begin my tour?"

"Your parents seem nice." Zuko smiled knowing that Toph and her parents haven't always had the best relationship.

"Oh, I know!" Her eyes widened, "How about downtown?"

"I thought your parents didn't want us leaving the property."

"It'll be fine," she reassured him with a cutesy smile, "and besides I know of a fire bender who owes me a field trip."

"But your. . .parents. . ." Zuko tried to resist Toph's cuteness but failed. "Ok" he groaned.

"Alright!" She pulled Zuko out of her manor quickly before anyone could stop them. The sky grew darker as they walked down the street. Goosebumps lined Toph's pale skin as the air chilled. Zuko removed his jacket and placed it on Toph's shoulders. "hm?" she looked up at the firelord.

"I didn't want you to get sick from the cold." Zuko scratched his nose.

Toph jumped over and clung to Zuko, "I've missed you guys so much. I'm glad atleast one of you could visit me." She smiled and blushed from her honesty.

"Really?" Her words made Zuko freeze in place.

"Yeah, its been so boring without my friends."

"Oh…" They continued walking. "Hey Toph, where are we going exactly?"

"Not sure, maybe we'll walk to Kiyoshi Island and beat up Sokka!" She laughed.

"That's a little too far…" He thought, "How about we go somewhere else?"

Toph blinked, not sure if Zuko understood she was joking. "How about your place on Ember Island?"

"Are you sure you don't want to go back home?"

"I'm not sure if I ever had a home." she dropped her head.

"What do you mean?"

"My parents." she placed her free hand over her eyes. "They never really understood me and even though they're trying, they still don't get me. My friends are more like family than my actual parents."

"But they're trying…isn't that better than nothing?"

"They still hate what I do. My parents are only like this so I wont run away." She turned away from Zuko, "I know they love me, but I don't know why it hurts them when I act like myself."

Zuko grabbed Toph and turned her so she was facing him. "Toph" He hugged her tightly, "I know how you feel, but you need to just give them time to understand. Running won't help improve anything."

"Thanks Zuko."

He released his friend, "Now how about we get you home?" Toph nodded. She grabbed Zuko's hand as they lazily walked back to Toph's home.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Chapter 3 may be up in a few days or so :)**

**Please Review when you have the chance~**


	3. Chapter 3: I Hate Good Byes

Chapter 3: I Hate Good Byes

The two eventually made it back. Toph's parents had already went to bed. "Yea, they were very worried."

"They probably just thought you were safe. You know being in the company of the fire lord," he grinned.

"No, you were safe with the world's greatest earth bender!" she laughed.

"hehe, well I should head back to the Fire Nation."

"Don't go now!" She grabbed his arm, "It's late & besides I've been in need of a good bending battle."

"Fine, I'll stay." Zuko smiled.

"heh I knew you would." She jabbed his arm. She laughed as Zuko let out a small 'ow'. "Follow me, I'll show you to the guest room." Toph led the new Fire Lord down the dark hall toward his room. The door cracked opened.

"Thanks," Zuko smiled and walked in. He turned on the light and looked around the lovely decorated room.

Toph walked in and jumped on the bed. She turned to Zuko with a serious expression on her face. "I need to know something Zuko."

"What is it?" He sat down beside her.

"Why are you here?"

"I can't visit a friend?" He turned away.

"Well you ARE the Fire Lord, I just imagined you'd be the busiest out of everyone."

"Being the Fire Lord is a lot of work, but I find for little vacations." He sighed, "And you were the easiest to find."

"Are you saying that you'd rather spend time with ME than your girlfriend?" Toph chuckled as Zuko began blushing even more. The room grew silent for only a few seconds. "Is something wrong? Your hearts pounding so fast its shaking the whole bed."

"It's nothing." He laid back on the bed.

Toph stood up and turned off the light and walked out. Normally she'd say something like 'I know when you're lying you know!' but she could feel that Zuko wasn't in the talking mood. 'When he's ready to talk about it, he will.' She thought to herself, 'it's probably nothing too bad anyway.'The young Earth bender walked to her room and went to sleep.

While the others dreamed, Zuko couldn't manage to go to sleep. He had far too much on his mind. He knew she'd be curious about why he was here but hoped she wouldn't ask. Toph can sense when people lie, but Zuko really didn't know how to tell people about what happened. He turned over. 'What should I do?' he whined to himself, 'I don't really want to go home just yet…but'

The image of the cute earth bender entered his mind. Then he saw Mai's face. Her normally expressionless face twisted into anger. He jumped forward with a scream as he imagined Mai throwing knives at him. 'I should stop thinking' he panted as he relaxed back onto his pillow.

The night continued but Mai still invaded Zuko's dreams, preventing him from sleeping. The newly risen sun shone through Zuko's window. 'ugh.' he blinked slowly. He sat up, hunched over yawning. His door burst open, shaking him awake.

"Morning, Zuko!" Toph shouted.

"Good morning." he tried to smile.

"Ready for our battle?" she jumped closer to Zuko with excitement.

"In a bit," he yawned again, "I'm still a little tired."

"Rough night?"

"Ye-" before he could finish Toph punched his arm and sent him over the bed and onto the floor. He said nothing.

"Well, hurry up." She grinned, "I've been waiting for this all night!" Toph walked off, giving Zuko a few minutes to rest.

Zuko groaned. He struggled to get up and when I finally stood up he headed for the door. 'It's just a practice battle.' he thought and met Toph in the backyard.

"Took you long enough." She slammed her foot on the ground, making a quake that sent Zuko flying into a near by tree. "ummm, Zuko?"

"I'm fine." he fell and hit the ground.

Toph ran up to Zuko and helped him up, "Are you okay?"

"I'm not too sure." he sat down.

"Having a bending battle isn't a good idea when you didn't get any sleep."

"Thanks for the advice." He sighed, "I had too much on my mind to get any sleep."

"Wanna talk about it?" She sat next to him. "Is being the firelord THAT tough."

"No, not really." he blushed, "I'm just having issues with Mai."

"Really?" She thought of what little she knew of Mai, "She doesn't seem like the 'naggy type'." she laughed, "that's more like Katara."

"…All we've been doing is fighting." He leaned back on the tree, "I just needed a break from everything is all."

"I can understand that." Toph smiled.

"Thanks for listening."

"well its not like I can get distracted by shinny things." She and Zuko laughed in unison.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't that good of an opponent."

"It's alright." She laid her head on Zuko's shoulder. "Because this is nice too."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Words of Love At Dawn

For a slight moment their thoughts were in unison, their eyes met. Zuko leaned in, his lips gently brushed against the earth bender. It only took a second for Zuko to realize what he was doing. He jumped backed, "Sorry." he blushed, his whole face turned red, "I don't know what came over me."

Toph clawed at the ground, "I see. . ."

Zuko looked at Toph as she removed the grass from the dirt, "Toph?. . ."

"yeah?" she said showing no emotion at all.

"um…" he looked around trying to change the subject, "nice trees."

"yeah, trees are nice…"

"you okay Toph?" Zuko took her hand to keep her from getting more dirt underneath her fignernails.

"I'm fine."

"It was wrong of me to kiss you like that." he blushed, "I'm-"

Toph placed her hand over Zuko's mouth. "Don't appologize."

"But-" Zuko removed her hand, "why?"

"Because…"

"it was your first kiss?"

"that and!" Toph intertwined her fingers with Zuko's, "It was nice."

"I-I…I?" The words got mixed up in Zuko's head. He mumbled 'I' over and over.

"Loser," Toph said as she kiss him on the lips. Zuko couldn't himself. It was like his body had a mind of its own.. He wrapped his arms around Toph's tiny waist. She removed her lips from his and laid her head on his chest, "I like you. A lot."

He kissed her forehead, "I like you too, but I have a girlfriend."

"Yeah, a girlfriend that doesn't appreciate you or deserves you." Toph complained quietly.

"Toph…"

"yeah?"

Zuko tilted her head back so she was looking up into his eyes. He kissed her on the nose, making the young bender blush from embarrassment. "I really do like you." he smiled before kissing her passionately.

"Zuko!" she tore herself away from to catch her breath. She panted between words, "What if someone sees us?"

"I don't care." he kissed her over and over again. Moving his way down to her neck.

"Toph!" Mrs. Bei Fong called from inside the estate.

Toph jumped off of Zuko, "Yeah mom?"

"Brunch is ready" She walked outside and smiled at the two.

"We're coming inside." Toph said turning toward Zuko.


End file.
